Modern homes typically include a wide variety of installed and non-permanently-deployed appliances. Examples in these regards include, but are not limited to, apparatuses that, once installed, comprise a part of the residence's infrastructure (often hidden from view, such as behind walls or doors or in garages or basements). Illustrative examples include, but are not limited to, installed pumps (such as a water pump in a well, a sump pump, or a sewage pump, to note but a few examples in these regards), a central furnace (including heat pumps), a central air conditioner, a central humidity controller, a movable barrier operator (such as a garage door opener, a driveway gate opener, and so forth), a water softener, a garbage disposal, an electronic surveillance and/or security system, an installed electricity generator (such as a gas or natural gas generator, a wind-powered generator, a solar-powered electricity source, and so forth), and lighting fixtures of various kinds.
Other appliance examples include such things as window-installed air conditioners and installed kitchen and laundry appliances (such as, but not limited to, clothes washers, clothes dryers, stoves, ovens, indoor grills, installed exhaust fans, automatic dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, microwave ovens, trash compactors, and so forth). Other residential appliances are not installed per se and are simply non-permanently set or placed where desired. Examples in these regards include lamps, home-entertainment systems and components, communication-network interfaces (such as land-line telephones, cable connections, and so forth), stand-alone fans, aquarium equipment (such as pumps, filters, and heaters), coffee makers, towel warmers, robotic floor-based vacuum cleaners, and so forth.
“Home automation” refers in general to the automated operation of such residential appliances (typically pursuant to some planned schedule or in response to pre-identified conditions of interest). The nature and modality of the automated operation can vary with the appliance itself. In some cases the automated operation can include physical movement of some part or all of the appliance. In other cases the automated operation can include an operational change of state.
Home-automation systems typically rely upon one or more edge components to effect the desired operation. Numerous examples are known in these regards and included actuators that range from simple electronic switches (having a selectable “on” and “off” state) to sophisticated multi-state electro-mechanical mechanisms. In many cases an edge-component interface serves to control one or more such edge components. Again, numerous examples abound for such edge-component interfaces.
Unfortunately, home-automation systems and components constitute a heterogeneous lot. As a result, considerable incompatibilities exist in terms of communications protocols, instructions, and so forth. This, in turn, makes it considerably more difficult to design, install, access, modify, maintain, operate, and update or expand a home-automation system.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.